It's a city law they've called needless and unfair. Now there's a new term: hypocritical.

William and Mary students have long struggled with the law. Most recently, the city's zoning board denied a special permit this year from a student who owned a six-bedroom house and wanted to house himself and four friends in it.

So when the students learned that the Williamsburg City Council issued a special permit this summer allowing Busch Entertainment to house 80 Russian student workers in 20 Econo Lodge Motel rooms, students cried foul anew.

"Four students in one motel room is fine, but four students in a huge house is a safety hazard?" asked Zach Pilchen, a sophomore senator in the campus student government. "It's just a lot of double-speak. It isn't based on reasoning, just overwhelming anti-student sentiment."

Student leaders asked council members this week to individually clarify the "three unrelated people to a house" rule via e-mail. By Thursday afternoon, only one councilman had acknowledged receipt and promised a full response later.

Williamsburg Mayor Jeanne Zeidler dismissed comparisons between the two permits.

The student's home is zoned for single-family residential and the Econo Lodge is in a "lodging" zone.

"The rule helps protect the residential character of single-family neighborhoods," Zeidler said. "If too many unrelated people live in the same residence, it has an impact on the neighborhood."

For the past two years, student leaders have met with the city's planning department on this issue, Zeidler said. It is possible the law could be changed for specific homes, she added, but such a modification would need to be done carefully.

But students are tired of delays and excuses, Pilchen said.

For every concern the city suggests, he has a retort. Too many cars? Only give a few parking permits per house.

Fear of loud parties? Enforce the city's noise ordinances.

Fire hazard? Back to the approval of four students to a motel room.

The issue is not due to a housing crunch at William and Mary.

By college rule, all students who wish to live in on-campus housing can do so.

"There's housing off-campus, but its underutilized," Pilchen said. "What sense is it when you can't have someone sleeping in an empty bedroom?" *